The DLSU Green Archers and the UP Fighting Maroons are set to engage in the latest chapter of their new-age rivalry with the UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball finals slated to begin on December 8.
Since UP’s resurgence in the last six years in UAAP men’s basketball, both teams have locked horns more often than not in crucial moments of the season and postseason.
While their Season 87 matchups have been in favor of the Green Archers so far, the Fighting Maroons have had their own fair share of victories as well.
From UP’s unlikely Finals run in 2018, to the Maroons' competitive three-game Finals series in UAAP Season 86, there hasn’t been a shortage of high-level basketball from the two teams on both ends of the court.
Before the two schools engage in another exciting series for all the marbles on Sunday, we take a stroll down memory lane through their crucial matchups and how both La Salle and UP’s title runs have seen the teams cross each other’s path one way or another.
2018: UP’s road to Final Four glory
Since the turn of the decade, the UP Fighting Maroons have been a staple in the UAAP post season — having qualified to their fourth straight Finals appearance in Season 87.
But during the 2010s, UP was hardly a team that you expected to compete deep into the season. In fact, they weren’t a team that was known to compete at all. Especially from 2010 to 2014, the Fighting Maroons only managed four wins in as many seasons in the UAAP.
The breakthrough took years, but it finally came in UAAP Season 81 where they broke a 21-year Final Four drought. Some might have forgotten, but it was a win against La Salle that sealed their place in the semis.
Buoyed by Gomez de Liaño brothers Javi and Juan, and former MVP Bright Akhuetie, UP routed a La Salle squad which featured future Gilas stalwart Balti Baltazar and now-pros Aljun Melecio and Andrei Caracut, 97-81, to mark an end to UP’s dark years in men’s basketball.
In a year highlighted by late game heroics from then-senior Paul Desiderio, UP continued on to the Finals after beating Adamson twice in the Final Four, gaining entry into the championship as the 3rd seed.
However, Thirdy Ravena’s Ateneo Blue Eagles grounded UP in the Finals with a 2-0 sweep to clinch back-to-back UAAP crowns.
2022: UP denies La Salle upset en route to first title in 36 years
It would be four more years before La Salle and UP engage in another high-stakes affair in the UAAP as the country recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Tab Baldwin’s Ateneo Blue Eagles remained the team to beat at the beginning of the year, UP and La Salle would be the stars of a highly-competitive Final Four matchup.
After denying the Ateneo Blue Eagles of a sweep in the eliminations with an 84-83 escape act heading into the Final Four, the Fighting Maroons set themselves up for a clash with La Salle in the semis.
Despite being armed by a twice-to-beat advantage, UP fell at the hands of then-rookie Kevin Quiambao and the Green Archers in Game 1, 83-80, to force the winner-take-all Game 2.
Evan Nelle also had 26 points to extend the Green Archers’ season.
But in Game 2, Carl Tamayo proved his calibre as the top rookie of that season, pouring 19 points in the closeout victory for UP to set up the Finals series against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, which the Fighting Maroons would win in three games.
It was UP’s first title in 36 years.
2023: La Salle avenges Final Four loss with Season 86 championship
It was the dawn of a new era for the DLSU Green Archers under new management as head coach Topex Robinson joined the helm before the start of UAAP Season 86.
Though there wasn’t much fanfare heading into the season, Kevin Quiambao quickly emerged as the new-age star for the Taft-based cagers in just his second year with the team. With key holdovers like Evan Nelle, Mark Nonoy, and Mike Phillips, La Salle established themselves as title contenders in the second round.
After finishing the first round on seesaw campaign with a 4-3 mark, La Salle went on to sweep the second half of the season to take the second seed heading into the semis with a 11-3 record.
Both UP and La Salle disposed of their Final Four opponents right in the first game, and at the start of the Finals series, it looked like UP was set to win its second title in the last three years after a record-setting rout in Game 1, 97-67.
But with league MVP Kevin Quiambao leading the way, the DLSU Green Archers would not be denied. La Salle repaid the rout in Game 2 with a convincing 82-60 win to force the winner-take-all Game 3.
Then, La Salle finished things off thanks to Finals MVP Quiambao’s 24 points in the decider. The Green Archers outscored UP, 18-11, in the final salvo to take the 73-69 victory and win La Salle’s first title since UAAP Season 79.
2024: ?
After a storied past couple of years for La Salle and UP, the two teams are slated to begin the next phase of their rivalry with another best-of-three series.
Coming off back-to-back Finals losses, UP is trying to regain its spot in the top step of the podium. But with presumptive back-to-back MVP Kevin Quiambao still at the top of his game, it will continue to be a tall task for the Fighting Maroons.
UP’s super senior JD Cagulangan will look to turn his fortunes around with a different outcome in his fourth straight Finals appearance with the Fighting Maroons.
But with La Salle taking both games in eliminations so far, the Green Archers are likely the favored team to clinch the crown. Despite of the results though, fans can expect fireworks in the heated rivalry’s latest meeting.
La Salle and UP begin their best-of-three finals on Sunday, December 8, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum